As computers have increased in popularity, the number of computer viruses has increased. Accordingly the security requirements for computer data are also increasing. Since the hard disk is a main device for storing computer data, security of its data is a serious concern.
Except for computer viruses, many other factors, such as a user operation error, a hacker attack, etc. can possibly harm the data security of a hard disk. All of these can immediately destroy data that has been created by users with hard work, and furthermore, it is possible to crash the whole computer system and lose all stored data. This can result in great loss for the user.
In order to maximize protection of the hard disk data, data backup and recovery technology for hard disk has been created. With this technology, the important data in a hard disk can be safely copied to a protection area and the data can be recovered when destroyed. Users need not worry about data security again to a certain degree.
At present, there are several methods for data backup and recovery in a hard disk. In one method, data backup and recovery is accomplished through a backup hard disk. In this method, except for the working hard disk for storing the operating system and user data to be used, another hard disk, known as backup hard disk, for backing up data in the working hard disk is needed. With this method, all user data can be backed up completely and this method hence has a high reliability. Nevertheless, adding an independent backup hard disk increases the cost of the computer, and at the same time, the setting of basic input output system (BIOS) should be changed. Accordingly, this is not a useful method for a common user.
In a second method, data backup and recovery is accomplished with an optical disk or a floppy disk. In this method, when a computer is dispatched from the vendor, a recovery disk made by an optical disk or a floppy disk is provided. The recovery disk records the operating system and a portion or all of application software that has been installed in the computer delivered from the vendor. When the computer system crashes, the user can recover the computer to the original state when it is delivered from the vendor with this recovery disk. This method is easy to use but has two disadvantages. Firstly, the computer can only be recovered to the state it was in when it was delivered from the vendor, and thus this method is unable to provide a real-time backup and recovery. Secondly, the user must reserve the recovery disk carefully, so this method has much limitation in use.
In a third method, data backup and recovery is accomplished through a hard disk partition. At present, there is some hard disk partition software available, such as GHOST, etc. With the hard disk partition software, a hard disk can be separated into several logically independent partitions and one of which, referred to as the backup partition, can be used to store the backup data. When data in other partitions is destroyed, the data can be recovered with the backup data in the backup partition. Although this is a good technique, destruction of data by virus and some operation errors cannot be fully avoided since the backup partition and other partitions are located in the same hard disk.
In a fourth method, data backup and recovery is based on BIOS. Chinese application number 01134778.3, by the same applicants and titled “Method for Data Backup and Recovery of Hard Disk,” provides a method for data backup and recovery based on BIOS. In this method, the program for implementing data backup and recovery is set in the BIOS chip and cannot be modified. During BIOS booting, a user can press the hot key of backup to enter the backup menu, or the hot key of recovery to enter the recovery menu. This method is reliable and secure, but it has two shortcomings. Firstly, the operation is inconvenient because a pressed hot key can be responsive only during the short BIOS boot period. If the BIOS boot period is over, the computer must be rebooted for data backup and recovery. Secondly, since the program for implementing data backup and recovery set in the BIOS chip cannot be modified, the BIOS chip must be replaced when the software needs updating. So it is inconvenient for users to update or modify the software.
As mentioned above, though several methods for data backup and recovery have been provided and put to use, each of them has various disadvantages respectively. The fourth method has the highest security and reliability among the above-mentioned methods, but ease of use is poor. The present invention provides a more convenient method for data backup and recovery.